Records show the immediate past Chairman of the North Carolina State Board of Elections had frequent contact in the days leading up to the 2018 general election with a Bladen County Democrat who is among those interviewed by NCSBE investigators.

Joshua Malcolm, a Democrat lawyer from Robeson County, chaired the NCSBE until it was dissolved by a three-judge panel in late December.

Prior to taking over a chair in early December, Malcolm served as vice chair. In that role, he made the motion in late November to not certify the results of the 9th Congressional District race, alluding to voting irregularities in comments he made preceding the motion.

“I’m very familiar with unfortunate activities that have been happening down in my part of the state,” Malcolm said at a November 27, 2018 meeting of the NCSBE. “And I am not going to turn a blind eye to what took place, to the best of my understanding, which has been ongoing for a number of years.”

Since that initial motion to not certify the race, investigators with the state board have launched a months-long investigation into allegations of election fraud in Bladen and Robeson Counties.

WBTV has learned Malcolm was in frequent communication with Jens Lutz, a Bladen County Democrat whose name has emerged in several ways as the current investigation has unfolded.

Lutz—who has a lengthy arrest record in counties across the state, including a conviction for impersonating a police officer—served as vice chairman of the Bladen County Board of Elections during the 2018 election.

He resigned suddenly from that position in early December, days after he was questioned by NCSBE investigators.

[…] WBTV requested records of all communication—including text messages and phone records—between Lutz and Malcolm after multiple sources in Bladen County raised questions of the relationship between the two men.

Initially, an NCSBE attorney produced two screenshots of text messages between Malcolm and Lutz and said that constituted the entirety of communication records between the two men.

Specifically, the board attorney confirmed there were no phone records documenting calls between the two men when asked by WBTV.

“I have inquired about that specifically, but no other public records are responsive to the request to the best of our knowledge,” the NCSBE attorney said when asked to certify that there were no phone records.

But the text messages produced by Malcolm suggested there were phone records.

Ultimately, Malcolm agreed to produce phone records of calls between him and Lutz only after a WBTV reporter threatened to refer the matter to the station’s attorneys.

At first, Malcolm produced a phone log that detailed four calls between the two men between April and late November; three of which were initiated by Lutz calling Malcolm.

NCSBE staff produced a revised call log one day later that showed a total of eight calls between the two men, including three calls initiated by Malcolm in the days leading up to and on Election Day.

WBTV was not able to learn the nature of the phone calls between Malcolm and Lutz because Malcolm refused to do an interview for this story or otherwise answer questions about the nature of his communication with Lutz.

But the text messages exchanged between the two men suggest the topics included in the communication included concern for activities related to the 2018 election.

“During that meeting some troubling issues came up, so if you have time call me tomorrow. Thanks,” Lutz texted Malcolm on June 10.

There is no record that Malcolm called Lutz the next day but other text messages suggest there were phone calls between the two men that were not included in the records produced by Malcolm.

Another time, on October 2, Lutz called Malcolm late in the morning and Malcolm followed up with a text message several hours later.

“I spoke w/ Joan Fleming at the SBEEE. Please contact her to chat through and she may have additional questions,” Malcolm said.

The text messages and phone records show Malcolm and Lutz continued to talk even after Lutz was referred to board staff.

On October 17, Lutz asked Malcolm to call him early that morning. The two eventually spoke that evening.

The next set of communication came on November 3, 5, and 6, when Malcolm called Lutz.

Before producing the records in response to a request from WBTV, Malcolm had never previously disclosed the fact that he had communication with a Bladen County official regarding allegations of impropriety, including when the board was asked to disclose any facts that could raise a conflict of interest or the appearance of a conflict of interest at the start of its November 27 meeting at which the board decided to not certify the 9th Congressional District race.

In an emailed statement, a NCSBE spokesman said there was nothing unusual about the communication between Malcolm and Lutz.

“It is commonplace for county board members to communicate with State Board members on a variety of issues in the course of their service,” Spokesman Pat Gannon said.[…]

Actually, from my experience in the driveby media (and from talking with folks experienced in election administration), it’s more common for these kinds of conversations to occur between board staff and county board staff and members than board- member-to-board-member.

MORE:

[…] “Elections officials have a statutory mandate to investigate ‘frauds and irregularities in elections.’ We would expect State and County Board members to share information about potential wrongdoing in elections with State Board investigators,” the statement continued.

Gannon did not respond to a follow-up email seeking clarification on the fact that Malcolm is not a NCSBE investigator.[…]

Exactly. Why is this conversation between two political operatives of the same party, and not involving professional staff?

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8 thoughts on “NC-09: Malcolm in the middle?”

I think you can assume this.
They conspired to not have a complaint filed in Bladen County, because they wanted a more limitless investigation ordered by Malcolm at the state board level. That would have explained the bizarre nature of this investigation, and that whatever concerns they had, the politics of getting Mark cAme first

Cat got your tongue, Dallas? Are you still refusing to deny that it was you who claimed, without authority, that “the Republican Party” wanted provisions for a new primary in District 9 inserted into NCGA legislation? Your silence on that subject is deafening. The policy making bodies of the party certainly never took that position.

I think we can assume it was you as long as you continue to refuse to answer the question.

I wonder if Josh Malcolm disclosed that his dauther was being paid by good old Dan McCreedy to the NCSBEE investigators ? Now the same question should be asked of good old Dan did he know that he was paying the dauther of the NCSBEE Member. for Josh Malcolm to be appointed to be the chairman of the board and to make a statement that he was’t going to turn a blind eye to the voting irregularities in his area after Mr Stone had filed complaints of voter irregularities in Robeson County back in AUGUST and in OCTOBER on the 29th thru NOVEMBER the 2nd the NCSBEE sent out a mass mailer targeting the voters of only one county, Bladen County by Exhibit 4.2.1.1 and keep in mind that no formal complaint had been filed form Bladen County and the vote was certified .This was a direct attempt to intimidate and discourage the voters for Mark Harris and for the 162 absentee return envelopes to be singled out ,photo copied and then giving to a news reporter to start the smear campaign against the voters that supported Mark in the primary as well in the general election, now it a peers we know who the two operatives that were behind this unlawful attack .

Well when Jens Lutz made the statement that you could drag his name through the mud to try to cleanup the corruption in the voting process that was great, but after his interview with the NCSBEE Investigators he decided to resign real quick like ,now I personally think that was even a greater move on his behalf because he started the process of cleaning up the corruption by handing in his resignation ! now that’s one at o boy fer you ! Happy trails to you

I would not be surprised if these guys somehow got the dude in Bladen who was working with the Harris campaign inserted there. Sounds like a Manchurian Candidate type thing where the dems put their guy in, knew what he was going to do, and had the narrative ready when Harris won. Kinda like and insurance policy…think Stroke/Paige/FBI/DOJ in the 2016 election.